jiaoshouthomas

Decaf and the rest, Thanks for that info on Columbia! (I suppose I will have to rely on undergrad recommenders and ask them not to mention my MAPSS study.) Does anyone know whether that is true for NYU as well? They offered me entry into their Masters earlier and I declined telling them I got an offer at MAPSS and I was wondering if they were the same way and whether it would be worth while to reapply for their PhD. A couple of pieces of advice MAPSS offers on applying to PhDs seems to be based on dubious presumptions and I was wondering if anyone confirm to me that they really do not make sense: 1) first, they tell you not to apply to more than one discipline (because the admissions committee will somehow know you are doing so and they will think you cannot make up your mind--though I wonder how they would, particularly if they are departments at different universities--) 2) second, they say not to apply to more than 10 schools because the admissions committees will be able to find out from your GRE score reports and think oh he will get in somewhere...(but I don't see how that could be the case if you report them to two disciplines in successsion--a better argument, given by one my recommenders, is to apply to less schools if you are taking the same approach to each school. But if you have time to thoughtfully tailor your application to each school, from the stand point of probability theory I don't see why you are not increasing your chances by aiming for more potentially good fits. One of my recommenders has sat on admission committees at Harvard and Berkeley and agrees with me in both of these matters, but I thought you might have an inside word on either of these matters.

I just finished the MAPSS program at University of Chicago as well as graduate level statistics course at Berkeley, and believe I am going to be a competitive candidate for a PhD program. However, the program, in giving me the good advice to apply to a range of schools and thoroughly read prospective advisers has also turned me on to a much higher number of social scientists that address my research question and equally appear to inhabit the fields of comparative politics and political sociology. A previous professor informed me that the more schools I apply to, the higher my chances are, and I very much wish to apply to nineteen schools. The problem is that the program says I should not 1) apply to more than ten schools (because, as they claim, the program might think I am desperate and/or simply figure they will more likely reject me because they think I probably have other options), 2) apply to more than one discipline (because I will appear indecisive, and the first three years of my graduate study will be dramatically different in poli sci and sociology, even if my dissertation in either field might appear different, and I might have to end up teaching intro courses). Aside from the fact that my MAPSS adviser and the program may not write a letter for me for the additional ten departments, does any of the above make sense to anyone else? I think I may be missing something, because 1) I do not see how any graduate program would know (or bother to find out) what/how many programs I applied to unless I told them, 2) think I would be happy to fit into the curriculum of either department, as I am more concerned about the suitability of the adviser. As much as I value their support and advice thus far, I worry that I may lose their support if I do not follow it strictly. Any opinions based on people's experiences of applying to more than one departments?